It's a Whirlpool Ultimate Care II that is about 10 years old. The machine works fine except for this loud rapid tapping noise that occurs for a brief time at the start of the spin cycle. It's been doing this for ages. I can't make a video but here is an audio recording.

The noise starts about 10 seconds into the spin cycle and as it picks up speed lasts for 40 seconds then stops as the water level nears empty. All is fine after that.

The machine is level and doesn't move about wildly. If I run it without clothes it still makes the noise but it seems like there needs to be a few gallons of water in the tub for the noise to occur. The noise sounds like its coming from beneath the basket. I'm just real curious about what might be causing this really loud noise. Any ideas? Thanks.

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Ok, I have a question. I've been looking through the L-55 tech manual and it mentions the machine going into drain mode, stopping and then spinning. Well, this machine starts spinning and draining at the same time. It then stops after a few minutes and goes into spin again. Is this normal? So maybe what I thought was spin cycle is actually the drain cycle but my machine is spinning when it shouldn't.

I have a feeling this is why I'm getting the tapping noise. It only happens when there is lots of water in the tub. This water should be drained out before going into spin. Because it hasn't drained out, the extra weight is too much for the machine during spin and hence the clicking noise. Think maybe I'm on to something?

Yes, if your machine has the Neutral Drain mechanism in the transmission, and it sounds like it does by your descritio of the timer pause, then the machine should not be going directly into spin. The agitation cycle is supposed to reset the Neutral drain mechanism each time, so that afte the wash cycle is done and the motor reverses, the spin gear is locked out inside the tranny. During the pause later, the stop pawl in the Neutral drain assy drops down and engages the spin gear.

You have tranny issues, and it is up to you if you want to try rebuilding the Neutral Drain assy or just throw another tranny in there. You should also replace the inexpensive clutch kit while you're in there, as no doubt the extra load of a full tub trying to spin has been detrimental to your old clutch.

A little update as I've been tinkering with the machine off and on over the last few weeks. In any case I think I have it fixed.

I opened up the the gearcase and went through all the parts and nothing was broken or appeared worn. I checked to make sure the cam gear was resetting correctly and there was no problem there. It seemed like the latch just wasn't able to hang onto the cam gear when it went into drain. I ended up dremeling a shallow groove in the claw part of the weighted latch and also in the part of the cam gear it makes contact with. Nothing deep enough to prevent it from releasing when the motor stops but enough to give it some grip. In the ten times its drained, it's done it without spinning at the same time. When it finishes draining and the motor stops, the machine goes into spin cycle like it should. Finally, no more tapping noise. It's been interesting taking the machine apart. I feel I can do it blindfolded I've done it so many times.

Thanks but that wasn't the problem. Everything has been perfect for the last couple of weeks and dozens of cycles since I made the custom adjustment on the latch and cam gear. The noise was happening because it was spinning with a full tub of water during drain and it was spinning because the weighted latch wasn't holding the spin gear cam in place. It did this for as long as I remember. I always thought it was a quirk of the machine. Go figure. Now I've got the neutral drain working properly, draining completely without spin then going into the proper spin cycle afterward. It's great not hearing that racket any more.

I wish you had of made some pictures of the process. That would be facinating to see.

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About the icons: The beer is tip link, if a tech saves ya some money buy em a 6 pack. The small green square=personal message. The green dot is a link to my web page on appliance repair and other general BS I love to post. The letter sends me email.I love fan letters! LOL